Deliveroo to let customers mix groceries and takeaway orders

Deliveroo customers can now enjoy champagne with their kebab or prosecco with their pizza under new order options introduced on its app.

The feature, which is to be made available to customers across the UK following a trial phase in London, allows app users to combine takeaway food with grocery shopping in a single order.

Deliveroo said the new functionality was introduced after data showed large numbers of customers ordered restaurant food and supermarket essentials within a few minutes of each other.

The move is aimed at increasing the convenience of ordering food from home as part of a bid to drive up customer basket sizes.

Last week, Deliveroo co-founder Will Shu told the Standard the company could declare its first ever dividend before the end of the year as it upped its earnings forecasts. The firm is preparing to issue a £250 million capital return to shareholders, with either a special dividend, a tender offer or a share buyback on the table.

However, gross transaction value per order in the UK, a measure of the size of customer baskets, stood at £25.80 in the first six months of the year, a rise of just 8%, well behind the 17.4% rise in food inflation in the year to June, according to ONS data.

Jitse Groen, CEO of Deliveroo rival Just Eat, said earlier this year the firm had ramped up the number of orders a delivery rider could manage on the same trip, in a bid to increase efficiency. Deliveroo said it had cut 350 jobs in February in a bid to become leaner on costs.

Shu said Hawaiian food had become the most popular in London, after a surge in demand for Poké bowls. Semi-skimmed milk, bananas and white wine were the most popular grocery orders.

An earlier version of this story suggested that combining restaurant and grocery orders into one would cut costs for Deliveroo. A company spokesperson said the move would not reduce costs.